


Words of the Soul

by BayleyWinchester



Category: Marvel
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, But a peaceful one, Fix-It of Sorts, Not A Happy Ending, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Short, Soul Stone (Marvel), They're in the soul stone, Undefined Relationship, this is why I have no friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BayleyWinchester/pseuds/BayleyWinchester
Summary: Bucky woke with a start. The last thing he could remember was watching his own arm turning into dust, calling out to Steve.~~Everyone who died in the snap wakes up in the soul stone with a promise that they'll be back. While everyone who survived continues to fight, trying to get their loved ones back.





	1. Chapter 1

Bucky woke with a start. The last thing he could remember was watching his own arm turning into dust, calling out to Steve and then he had woken up. They had been fighting in Wakanda. Fighting Thanos and trying to win. 

They had lost.

Everything was orange, that was probably the strangest thing. He was lying down, the ground looked wet but he couldn’t feel any liquid. All he could see was the hazy orange colour. In the horizon was a person, well it looked like a person. Bucky had learned long ago not to be surprised when he saw weird things. 

_ “Steve?”  _

His last words echoed around his head. It didn’t hurt, he wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t see his hand disappearing. He had been standing there one minute, looking at Steve and then he had woken up here. Was Steve okay? Bucky’s life had always revolved around keeping Steve safe and happy. They had only had a few years of peace, a few years of happiness. 

Had Steve disappeared as well? Was he here as well? Where was here?

So many questions were flying around and he couldn’t answer any of them. 

The figure on the edge of the horizon was walking towards him now. It looked like a person, he was sure of that. Even if it was a person, it could be anyone. If Thanos had won, if that was why he was here, then that would mean half of the population was with him. Where ever he was. 

He almost thanked God, it was Sam.

Sam looked happy to see him, bending down he helped Bucky up. The two of them stood facing each other for a while. Silently observing everything. More and more people were appearing on the horizon. No, they weren’t people. Creatures. Some looked human, but they were gold or had four arms. Others looked nothing like humans. 

All Bucky wanted to do was get better in Wakanda, now he had this to deal with. 

“Are you okay?” Sam asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Bucky nodded, not taking his eyes off the things in the distance. There were so many of them, it was insane. Was he really okay? Hell no. But he was good at masking his true feelings, he always had been. Steve was the only person he ever really let in.

“You?” He turned to look at Sam, who was staring at the creatures with an uncertain look. 

“Who knows?” Sam replied. “We should try and find others though, other humans,” as he said it a man walked over to them. He was wearing a red cape and an outfit more suitable as a costume. Behind him where more creatures, a man (okay), a large bluish man (strange but reasonable), a bug lady (weird) and a walking tree (straight up confusing). They all seemed to know each other, and the cape man looked at Sam and Bucky like he knew them.

The man stuck his hand out to shake, both of them did. “I’m Doctor Strange, you must be Bucky, and you’re Sam.”

“How do you know us?” Bucky asked. 

“Metal arm, kind of hard to miss.”

“That’s not what he meant,” Sam replied. “How do you know who we are?”

Doctor Strange nodded, “sorry. I knew Tony Stark. I’m a sorcerer from New York. I kept the time stone-”

“You did a real good job,” Sam muttered. 

“-and I brought us here.”

“Pardon?” Bucky asked. “You?”

“This was the only way to win,” Strange replied. “I need us to lose so the others could win.”

Bucky closed his eyes and sighed deeply, looking down. This man was already getting on his nerves. So he had chosen to get half of everything killed so that the others could win? What did that even mean? “The others?” He asked finally. 

“Your friends, the Avengers."

“Steve?” Bucky asked, his head shooting up to look at the man. 

“Is alive.”

That small sentence calmed him down a little bit. Protecting Steve, that had always been his job. Always. Knowing that Steve was alive was enough. Even if he was alone, he was alive. 

“So what now?” Sam asked. “We just wait until they reverse whatever happened.”

“Basically,” Strange said. Bucky sighed, the doctor was lying. It was clear. There was something he wasn’t saying. Something big if his body language was anything to go off. But, Bucky stayed silent. He wasn’t going to bring up any drama until he needed to. Strange continued, “there’s a group of humans just over there, people you know. Would you like to come?”

The two of them nodded and followed the strange group of people towards another group. People they knew were there, Wanda, T’Challa and Peter Parker. The poor spider-kid looked like he was about to have a heart attack. 

“Don’t worry,” Strange said when they were all together. “We’ll get out.”


	2. Chapter 2

Steve was sitting in a jet headed back to New York. No one knew what was happening. He had been fighting Thanos, then he had watched as his Bucky turned to dust in front of him. All his friends, his family, were gone. Sam and Bucky were gone. 

No one was speaking on the jet, they had found out Tony was alive only minutes before they had left. A broken message was left on Nat’s phone, but he was alive and heading to New York as well.

All Steve wanted to do was go home, sleep, and then figure out what had just happened. Or maybe go to sleep and wake up in 70 years ago, so he didn’t have to think about it. Sleeping into the next century sounded really good right now. 

_ “Steve?”  _

His last words - his second set of last words - had been Steve’s name. Steve couldn’t help but feel like a failure, he had let Bucky die a second time. He had been right there, only a few steps away from Bucky and he hadn’t even moved. He had watched as Bucky died, turned to dust, alone and afraid. Sam was MIA, no one could find him, so they assumed he had turned to dust like the others. Steve just hoped that they were together wherever they had gone. 

“Landing in five,” Nat said from the front of the plane. Steve had to hold back a cynical laugh, the original Avengers had survived. The ones who fought Loki in 2012. They were all there, everyone else had gone. Plus a raccoon. 

Tony was waiting for them at the compound, how he got there before them was a mystery but it happened. A lady was beside him, she was half-robot and blue and the raccoon knew her. He opened his mouth but she shook her head and he fell silent. Steve didn’t need to ask what they were on about, everyone had lost someone. 

“Steve,” Tony said, his voice breaking. 

“Hi, Tony.”

A bright flash of green light appeared in the corner of the room, interrupting Tony and startling everyone. From the green light, a man wearing a red cape appeared. “Wizard?” Tony asked when he saw him.

“Stark.”

“You turned to dust.”

“I did.”

“Very helpful, thanks.”

The man rolled his eyes before turning to the rest of them. “I’m Doctor Strange, I’m a sorcerer from New York. I kept the time stone with me and fought with Stark on Titan.”

“Why are you here?” Tony asked. “How are you here?”

“I sent a copy of myself into the future, this is that copy. I am inside the soul stone with the others. I needed us to lose in order to win,” Strange explained. Steve closed his eyes and sighed, if they were in the soul stone there had to be a way to get them back. They weren’t dead. “I know how to get them out, it’s a complicated spell but doable in this form. We need to go to my sanctum.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “You told me that if it was me and the kid vs the stone, you’d give us up. How can we trust you?” 

“I’m your only option. Peter is waiting in the soul stone, as is Wanda and Sam and T’Challa and Barnes,” he looked at Rocket. “As are all your friends.”

“Gamora?” The blue robot-lady spoke up.

Strange shook his head. “She was not killed in the snap.”

Thor looked down. Tony sighed again, but nodded and told everyone to get on the jet. Steve knew this was a good time to try and talk to Tony, about everything. But he couldn’t get up the energy to think about it. They would have time after all this was over after he had his friends back. 

The sanctum wasn’t far away. Seeing everyone as they flew over New York was the hardest part, everyone looked so lost as they wandered aimlessly in between car wrecks and piles of ash, calling out for their loved ones. 

Once inside the sanctum, Strange started going through his books and muttering to himself. Steve stood by the door, staring up at the roof that had a giant hole in the middle of it. All of them were keeping quiet and to themselves. Except for Nebula and Rocket, who were talking quietly together. 

Strange nodded to himself and called everyone over. He was frowning and kept glancing at Steve. “When I was on Titan, I saw around 14 million outcomes. We won one. I’ve done everything I could to get us there, to get us here. I just need to do this spell and everyone will come back.”

“Okay, do it,” Steve said. “What’s the problem?” 

“In order to get everyone out, I need someone to go in.”

Steve looked at the hole in the ceiling again. Bruce spoke up, “we don’t trade lives. Is there another way?”

“No,” Strange said, his gaze flickering to Steve. “This is the only way.”

“All the people will come back,” Steve confirmed. “If one person goes in?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

“Steve, you can’t,” Nat interjected. 

Turning to look at her he smiled sadly. “My entire life I’ve tried to save the world. Way back before the serum, I was always trying. God, why Buck put up with me, I’ll never know. But this? This is kind of it, right?” 

“You’ve already sacrificed yourself before,” she argued. 

“So it’ll be easy this time,” he replied before hesitating. “When-when he gets out, help him? Try and get him the life he deserves?” 

Nat looked pained but nodded anyway, looking away before the tears could fall. 

Steve turned back to Strange. “Let’s do it.”


	3. Chapter 3

Orange. Bucky was already getting sick of the colour. There was so much orange, that was it. Plus the ground was a liquid but it didn’t feel wet and that was just confusing, and it pissed him off. He was staring out into the orange haze, watching people wander around aimlessly.

“Can you tell us your master plan?” Sam asked Strange. “So we know what’s happening back on earth?”

“I don’t think you’ll like it very much.”

“I’m going to find out,” Sam replied. Bucky could picture him rolling his eyes. 

With a sigh, Strange started speaking. “I sent a copy of myself to the future to meet up with the Avengers. They will go and find a spell that my copy will be able to cast, every person in the stone will be brought back to their planet.”

“What wouldn’t I like about that?” Sam asked. “It sounds great.”

“You’re lying,” Bucky said without moving. He had gotten good at reading people. The doctor wasn’t telling the full truth. “There’s something else.”

“One of the Avengers will have to sacrifice themselves. They will be transported into the soul stone so we can leave.” 

All of the guardians and the Avengers that were in the soul stone started freaking out, each person had an idea of who would it be. No one wanted their friend to be the one to do it. Sam looked at Bucky and Bucky whistled. “I can assure you that Steve is the only one dumb enough to do it.”

“What makes you so sure?” Peter Quill asked. 

“That dumbass jumped on a grenade. I’ve known him since we were kids, he’ll consider it his ‘duty’ to kill himself for everyone else.” 

“So Captain America is going to save us?” Peter Parker asked. 

Sam nodded, “yeah. That man is the only man I know who will happily sacrifice himself time and time again.” 

“It’s his best and his worst quality,” Bucky agreed. “Am I right Strange, is it Steve?” 

Strange nodded, “that’s what my vision showed.”

Everyone seemed to calm down, no longer panicking about their loved one. Sam sat beside Bucky. “You seem very nonchalant about Steve sacrificing himself again.”

Bucky shrugged. “I’ve known him for a long time, I got used to it.”

“Was he always like this?”

“Pretty much, kept giving me heart attacks until I realized I just needed to let him be.”

“How old were you then?” 

“Like eleven or twelve,” Bucky laughed. “He was a sickly little kid, always fighting for what he believed in. I went along with it as much as I could, but I didn’t want him getting hurt.”

Sam sighed as he looked out to the horizon. They stayed silent for some time, each in their own thoughts. Knowing that they would be getting out soon made it a lot more peaceful. Bucky was just thinking of Steve. He would volunteer as soon as the doc said the words with complete disregard for himself. It was what Steve did. Bucky tried to imagine being in the stone (it still weirded him out that he was in the stone) alone. He couldn’t. 

“It’s time,” Strange called out. Everyone gathered around him. He started talking, it was very strange watching someone have a one-sided conversation. 

“Stark. … I did. … I’m Doctor Strange, I’m a sorcerer from New York. I kept the time stone with me and fought with Stark on Titan. … I sent a copy of myself into the future, this is that copy. I am inside the soul stone with the others. I needed us to lose in order to win, I know how to get them out, it’s a complicated spell but doable in this form. We need to go to my sanctum. … I’m your only option. Peter is waiting in the soul stone, as is Wanda and Sam and T’Challa and Barnes, as are all your friends. … She was not killed in the snap.”

He was silent for a bit, his eyes flickering all over the place. Then he started mumbling to himself before speaking again. “When I was on Titan, I saw around 14 million outcomes. We won one. I’ve done everything I could to get us there, to get us here. I just need to do this spell and everyone will come back. … In order to get everyone out, I need someone to go in. … No, This is the only way. … Yes.”

Again, he was silent, listening to a conversation on the other side it looked like. Then he started moving his hands, orange symbols floating around him. Creatures in the distance started screaming, a person would be standing there and then they’d be gone. 

Wanda was the first to go from their group, she sighed quietly and disappeared. Then it were all the space guardians, who all looked happy but Peter Quill. T’Challa smiled as he disappeared, as did Peter Parker. Sam patted Bucky on the shoulder and left. Within a few minutes, it was just Strange and Bucky standing in the stone. 

“Steve’s going to be in here forever?”

“I’ll try and find something,” Strange replied. “But I doubt there is anything,” he looked upset but sent Bucky a knowing look. Bucky sighed and looked out into the horizon. Strange continued, “are you coming?” 

Bucky turned back to Strange and smiled. 

~~

When Steve woke up, everything was orange. He was lying on his back, staring up at the sky. He sighed softly. It had worked, everyone would be back on earth now, happily reuniting with their loved ones. He was in the soul stone, which was apparently the orange one, and he would be forever. 

Strange had said that he would look for another way, that he wouldn’t stop looking. But the chances were slim. Steve was going to be here forever and he needed to get over that. It had worked, and that was a good thing. 

Wanda would be devastated that Vision had gone but she would have everyone else there, Clint would get Laura and Nathaniel back. Peter Parker would be back with Tony and his aunt. Sam and Bucky would be both finding what happened if they didn’t know already and-

“God, I thought you’d never wake up.”

A voice broke through Steve’s thoughts. A voice that he would recognize anywhere. 

“Buck?” Steve said sitting up. There he was, sitting right beside him. But he wasn’t the same. 

“Hey Stevie, like the look?”

He was wearing his army outfit, the one he had been wearing the night Steve was accepted into the army. His last night in New York. His hair was cut short again, and he was smirking at Steve, just like it was their apartment in Brooklyn all those years ago. But, more importantly, his arm was his arm. No metal insight. 

Steve looked down at himself, expecting to see his broken and bloodied suit. Instead, he got his suit from the war, the one he wore as a howling commando. They were wearing their 40’s outfits. 

“Guess we get to be ourselves again,” Bucky said. “Back from before everything went down. No Cap, no Winter Soldier. Just Steve and Bucky.”

“Why aren't you back on earth?”

Bucky looked over at him, “and what? Leave you alone here? No way.”

“You stayed.”

“Of course I did,” Bucky said. “I’m with you-” Steve joined in on their saying “-to the end of the line.”

Far away, in the distance but still audible, music started playing. Steve recognized the song, it was one from when they were children. Bucky stood up and straightened his uniform, reaching his hand down and pulled Steve up. “May I have this dance?”

“Always.”


End file.
